


it's never fair for him (or anyone)

by ScytheMarieAntoinette



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Multi, Sadness, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29022648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScytheMarieAntoinette/pseuds/ScytheMarieAntoinette
Summary: As the world crumbles around him, his world crumbles in front of him.Somewhere in the distance, Annabeth lets out an agonizing wail.When a certain purple titan snaps his fingers, everywhere in the universe, people start to fade. Camp Half-Blood is no exception.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Piper McLean/Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 15
Kudos: 53





	it's never fair for him (or anyone)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't regret anything.

It was a typical day at Camp Half-Blood. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, people were happy. Everything was finally peaceful for the first time in a long time. 

They should’ve known it would all go to hell. 

Annabeth sits with Percy by the lake. The sand is prickly under their legs, the water is cold around their feet. She couldn’t care less. All that matters is her Seaweed Brain is by her side, his hand intertwined with hers. She won’t let him leave her ever again.

More than seven thousand miles away, in a hidden city in Africa, Earth’s mightiest heroes are losing a battle against an even mightier villain. 

Piper laughs at Jason, watching as he tries unsuccessfully to lick the last bit of frosting from the corner of his mouth. She puts down her cupcake to help wipe it away. He’s disgusting, yet she loves him all the same. The day could not be any more perfect. 

More than seven thousand miles away, in a hidden city in Africa, the titan fits the final stone into his gauntlet. Power surges through his arm, across his body. 

Leo wipes a bead of sweat from his face. It’s hot and stuffy inside Bunker Nine, but he stubbornly refuses to leave until he finishes his new project. He’s been holed up in here for a while. Once he’s finally done, he’ll join Piper and Jason and stuff himself with victory cupcakes. He can’t wait to see them. 

More than seven thousand miles away, in a hidden city in Africa, the Norse god of thunder slams his ax hilt-deep into the purple titan’s chest. He’s triumphant for all of five seconds before he realizes his mistake. He should have gone for the head. 

A massive hand snaps its fingers. The full force of the Infinity Stones is unleashed in a single instant. The universe trembles. 

Percy feels a shift in the air. Something’s changed. He’s come to recognize the aura of power, but this is something else. This is bigger. 

“Did you feel that?” he asks Annabeth. 

“Yeah.” She’s looking up and around as if the change in the air is a visible thing. Perhaps the sky will turn green. “What do you think that was?”

He shrugs. It’s a little weird, but he’s mostly unconcerned. “I don’t know. Probably nothing. Hopefully nothing.” 

He should’ve learned by now to not hope for things. 

In the Hades cabin, Nico secretly cuddles with Will in his bed. Chiron would skin them both alive - which really contradicts his whole “protect the kids” complex he’s got going on - if he found Will here. Nico thinks the risk makes it all the more enticing. 

Then the air feels different. It feels charged like it’s full of static electricity. A moment later, a hot, white burst of pain stabs him right in his gut. He gives a yelp, hand going immediately to his stomach. Did Will just shiv him?

No, of course he didn’t. Will looks at him in alarm. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

And then Nico knows what this is. Gods, he knows. Being the son of Hades comes with a ton of fun little perks, like a death sense. He only really feels it when someone close to him is about to die. This time, though, the pain is much more intense. Which can only mean -  _ oh my gods. _

“Nico!” Will shakes his shoulders. His head throbs, but it’s nothing compared to his pounding heart. “Nico, what is it?”

“Death,” he manages to get out. “Many deaths are imminent.”

“Uh, Connor?” Travis holds his hand in front of him. His face is the picture of complete bewilderment. Of course, his hand is literally dissolving right there. 

“Yeah, bro?”

“Something’s happening.” That’s an understatement. 

“Dude, finish filling up the balloons, then we’ll talk.”

“Seriously, come here.” Travis’s whole arm is gone now. His body tingles. He wonders what’s going on. Did he piss off some god, and now they’re getting even? He can’t recall any god-pissing-off in the recent past. 

He doesn’t get to dwell on it much longer. Suddenly, he feels like he’s falling, but where the ground should’ve been, there is nothing. And then Travis is nothing. 

Connor grumbles to himself, wary of any water balloons Travis might whop at him. He’s not stupid. It kind of hurts that Travis thinks so. 

Though he  _ is _ walking right into a trap. He can’t help it. Older brothers have some sort of power over their little brothers. Whenever Travis called, Connor came. 

As he rounds the corner, where Travis is no doubt waiting for him, he jumps and lands in a ninja fighting stance.  _ Bring it, Travis.  _

Only, there’s no one there. A pile of balloons swollen with water is stacked neatly to the side of a garden hose, which is still trickling. No Travis. He cautiously checks the surrounding area. He’s not there. He looks down. Under his feet, there’s some sort of gray dust littering the grass.  _ That’s not natural _ , he thinks.

When Lacy walks into her cabin to find Drew crumbling to dust, she screams. 

A scream fills the air, quickly followed by another, but all Annabeth feels is annoyance at having her picnic with Percy be interrupted. She glances at him. “We should probably go see what that’s about, huh?”

He seems equally reluctant. “Yeah, we should.” He reaches for the pen in his pocket. 

She gets up and has run about two steps before she realizes Percy’s not behind her. She turns around. He stares down at his legs, watching with wide eyes as they flake apart. 

She’s on him in an instant, panic racing through her mind. She can’t comprehend what she is seeing. Her brain freezes up. “Percy?” is all she can think to say. Her voice is breathless. 

“Annabeth, I think I’m dying.” His beautiful sea-green eyes, the ones she dreams about every single night are filled with something akin to terror. And her throat closes up because it’s an expression she never sees on him. Even in the most terror-filled moments of their lives, he’s kept a brave face on. To see his mask crumbling just like his body makes her want to cry. 

She grips his hands so tightly she might have cut off his circulation. “No,” she says, shaking her head. “No, you are not dying.” Even as his body turns gray and breaks into pieces, she repeats the word like a mantra.  _ No, no, no. _

He goes to cut her off, but she beats him to it. “Perseus Jackson, get this through your seaweed brain. You. Are. Not. Dying.”

He smiles, so full of love despite the situation. “Okay, Wise Girl. I’m not dying.” He leans in to kiss her, but her lips touch nothing, and when she opens her eyes the last remnants of him are swirling away in the breeze. 

Something breaks inside Annabeth, but she sends it away in a flood of denial.  _ This is not happening. This cannot be happening.  _

So, as more panicked shouts and cries for help fill the air, she keels over, oblivious to it all. The only thing that registers is the dust covering the golden sand. It’s the same gray as her eyes. She’s never hated a color more. 

Jason jerks his head up at the sound of screaming. His battle instincts kick in immediately, and he’s already moving across the lawn when Piper’s voice stops him.

“Jason?” she says, stunned. He turns. 

She’s reaching for him, but her arm is going dusty. Her legs too. He’s already sprinting back to her by the time his mind catches up to his legs. She falls forward and he goes to catch her, but she explodes into dust just before she hits the ground. 

His hands close around empty space because she’s not there anymore. She’s not there anymore. She’s... not... there anymore? 

“Piper?” he asks the grass. “Pipes?” He breathes hard because his lungs refuse to work. It’s like they’re as shocked as the rest of his body. 

Through the blood pounding in his ears, he has one thought.  _ Leo. _

_ Hm,  _ Leo thinks, staring at the distorted image of him in one of the sheets of Celestial bronze. Hands on his hips, he cocks his head.  _ That’s not normal, is it?  _

No, it’s not normal to start dissolving into bits of gray. It’s also not normal to hear your mother’s voice in your head, loud and clear and as warm as it’s ever been. And yet, both of those things are happening right now. 

She’s calling his name, and he realizes he’s dying. And he’s suddenly filled with terror because no no no he doesn’t want to go. He’s still got so much life to live! He wants to laugh and cry and  _ live _ with his friends. He wants to grow old. But it’s never fair for him, so he’s dying. He hasn’t even apologized to Piper and Jason for holing up in the bunker for so many days.

But oh, his mother’s voice is so comforting. He hasn’t heard it in years. Gods, how he’s missed her. Maybe if he finally gets to see her again, dying won’t be so bad. He feels peaceful now. Like he’s drifting away on a boat, off to see his mother. 

_ Guess I’ll have to reschedule those victory cupcakes… _

Jason crashes through the bunker’s doors a minute later, frantically calling out Leo’s name, over and over again as he searches through the eerily silent room. He checks every single nook and cranny, every single possible hiding spot where Leo could’ve wedged himself into. He’s done this before, hidden himself away because he needed to be alone. Jason has to believe this is the case. He doesn’t let himself entertain any other thought. 

He’s feeling almost hysterical as he finally slows down near a work table, having found nothing. The emptiness of the bunker taunts him. He bows his head, catches his breath, then feels it being stolen from him yet again. The ground is covered in a dusting of gray, blending in with the stone floor. 

“No,” he murmurs, his face twisting with anguish. He feels tears welling in his eyes. He wants to drown. 

He leans against the worktable, propping himself up by the arms, wracked with sorrow, and more painful, guilt. Shame that he wasn’t there for Leo, or Piper. He let them both die. 

The worktable swims before him, though if he squints he can make out the papers and blueprints and tools strewn across the surface. And in the corner, a crude heart is scratched into the wood, carved by a knife or a screwdriver. And in the heart:  _ J+L+P _

And the dam inside of him breaks. 

“Many deaths are imminent? What does that mean? Who’s going to die?” Will bombards him with questions that he doesn’t have answers to. It’s not like every time he gets his death feeling the name of the person about to die scrolls across his vision. And thank the gods for that, because it would be a very long list according to his gut. 

Will sits up, the blanket pooling around his waist. “Nico?”

But he can’t reply, can’t open his mouth, can’t do anything. Because… because… because oh my gods Will is turning to dust right before his eyes. And he is completely unaware. 

“Will!” Nico cries, dread churning his stomach, and he’d throw up if there was any food in his stomach. 

Startled, Wills looks at him questioningly before glancing down and doing a double-take. The smallest, “oh!” escapes his lips. And then he’s gone, the gray eating away at his skin and fracturing it into a million tiny pieces. 

He lets out a strangled gasp, mouth wide in absolute horror. Will, his beautiful, bright,  _ radiant  _ ball of sunshine is, is, is…

_ Gone. _

As the world crumbles around him, his world crumbles in front of him.

Somewhere in the distance, Annabeth lets out an agonizing wail. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry?


End file.
